Blue Instincts
by BladeEntity
Summary: Another T.J centric fic, looking back at his thoughs during the time when Astronema is brought unto the ship by Andros


****A/N:** **Okay guys hope you enjoy this story, its a T.J centric fic. Here's the interesting thing I didn't write it, I found it on a very old website, the author gave me permission to post it here so please enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't known Saban. Enough said.

**"Blue Instincts"**  
><strong>by Arigeitsu<strong>

As I continue to check the ship's systems, all that was on my mind was Andros. It worried me that he was caught in the middle of something so tragic. He had found his sister, Karone, but never expected her to be Astronema. Astronema, I don't think I could ever trust or like her. Something about her after our first encounter with her on one of Jupiter's moons made me despise her. Yet, it was awfully strange to find a human to be so evil. But now, it all made sense. She had been kidnapped as a child and trained in the dark ways of Evil.

Just then, we heard the door open, with Andros walking in.

"Andros," Ashley said.

"So, what happened?" I asked.

"Well...," Andros said stopping in the middle of his sentence and turned back to look at the door.

Then, Astronema entered the Bridge and we were all so startled by her entrance that we took stances.

"You brought her onto the ship." Cassie said in a certain spiteful shocking way.

"What's going on Andros," I asked in a serious tone.

Andros sort of nodded. "She's my sister. And she knows where Zordon is."

"Of course she does, she helped kidnap him," I said. It was pretty obvious she knew where he was. She was on the side of evil. She knows everything Dark Specter knows.

"Actually, I didn't," she said while pacing around a bit, "But, I'll help you rescue him," Astronema continued and stopped pacing.

"Just give us the coordinates, we don't need any help from you, " Cassie said in a way I'm sure we were all feeling.

"As a matter of fact you do," Astronema said in a calm slightly cocky voice and began pacing again, "There's a force field around the planet. I can get Dark Specter to lower it, so we can get in."

"We?" Carlos said in a slight sarcastic tone and walked in the direction of Andros, "Yesterday she tried to destroy us."

I figured as much. The other rangers felt the same way I did. It just astounded me how Andros could do this to us. He's putting us at big risk, including himself. All she had to do is call on her army or Dark Specter, and we are at their mercy. Plus, she has easy access to everything on the ship. It just didn't feel right.

"Andros, listen, if this is a trap, we're walking right into it," Ashley said grabbing his arm.

Just then, I had an idea to keep her under close surveillance. This would be something Andros would disapprove of, but this is way too big a risk to have her walking the Megaship freely.

"_If_ we take her, it's under one condition, we restrain her," I said.

"No, I can't do that, " Andros exclaimed walking to the side of Astronema.

"Andros, it's too risky," I said to him.

"Andros, it's O.K.," Astronema said to him with a nod. Astronema didn't seem too concerned nor did she disapprove of being restrained.

"So, where's Zordon?" I asked making sure to keep my eye square on hers to let her know I meant business. It was just so weird, one second, she tries to destroy us with a monster, then the next, she's giving us all this info as if there were no ulterior motive behind it. She sort of returned about the same look I was giving her back at me.

"Kirak Galaxy..., on the jungle planet of the Yotoba," she said.

I sort of raised my face and chin a bit to let her know I understood very well. "DECA, set in a course, maximum hyper rush velocity," I said still keeping my eye on her.

"Course plotted, mega accelerators set to maximum", DECA said and the ship was on its way.

I turned around halfway to say in Andros' ear, "Let's hope she's telling the truth," and then turned around to the other rangers who had slightly frustrated looks on their faces as well. I went to check out the progress of the ship while the others just stood there. Then Cassie assisted me while Carlos and Ashley did a maintenance check on the ship to make sure everything was working properly. I could see from the corner of my eye that Andros and Astronema were just standing and staring at us. I didn't make any gestures to let them know that I could see them.

"Come on, Karone," Andros said giving me a quick glare before turning to leave the Bridge.

The door opened up and they both walked out. For a brief period, the Bridge fell silent except for the humming that was emanating from the ship's computers. I couldn't stop thinking of this entire ordeal and I sort of sighed for a second and then looked at Cassie who returned a look back at me and then looked down at the console again. I sort of stared blindly at the door again wondering what would happen within in the next 24 hours.

"Guys, I'll be right back," I said and they sort of looked at me for a second. They nodded and then I walked out of the Bridge.

As I walked out and turned my head in the direction of the dining area, I saw Andros at the Synthetron getting some food.

"Hey there, Andros," I said to him.

He didn't respond very quickly, but still continued to pull food from the Synthetron and put it on the metal tray he held in his left hand.

"Hey...", he said in a distant way.

"That for Astronema?", I asked.

"Yeah... it is," he responded, "Of course, it would be easier for her to have it if she wasn't chained up in the engine room."

I sort of just stood there for a second, I guess he was waiting for me to say something like I did on the Bridge.

"Look Andros, I know you're upset, but this is just a feeling I have inside me. It all seems so suspicious to me." I said to him.

He was silent once again.

"Andros, before we first met on the Megaship, I was the leader of the Power Rangers on Earth." I told him.

He picked up his head and looked at me.

"While my leadership didn't last long, I always had feelings of strange things that didn't seem right." I said to him.

"Oh, so you think my sister is seriously up to something?" Andros asked.

"Yes, I do. I know it's not what you have wanted, but having her restrained is the only way to keep her under surveillance. Who knows, maybe she could be just pretending to have these feelings of truly being your sister and might just want access to the Megaship to put some plan of hers in motion." I said to him.

"You know T.J, I figured you wouldn't understand, I seriously think none of you understand. I've spent my entire life searching for my long lost sister who was kidnapped by Darkonda. And worst of all, I had to lose my home along with my family, and now that I have finally found a missing part of my life, you come at me saying this is all one big trap and then all of you agree to have her tied up like some prisoner. I mean, she did save me when she gave me my morpher, if she wanted me destroyed, it could have been right then and there, but it didn't happen, I'm still here." Andros said.

I just sort of stood there not knowing what to say to him. He did bring up a valid point about us not understanding. But, I could somewhat relate a bit. I did lose my father. It wasn't easy for me to see him die in the hospital that night he tried to rescue that baby from that house. But, on the other hand, Andros lost his entire family. I still didn't have much to say to him at the time. I still stood there speechless for a while and then thought of something to tell him.

"Andros, I may not have dealt with the forces of evil as long as you have, but I have had experience with evil tricks in that time period I was leader of the Power Rangers. We almost lost Cassie one time along with the Phantom Ranger. From that point on, I have come to the conclusion that the evil forces can't be trusted at all. If Cassie was lost at that time, I don't think I would have ever forgiven myself. I don't think I could ever live with that guilt on my head if Cassie had really been turned to stone that day by Divatox's brother, Havoc." I told him.

Andros gathered the last of the food and looked at me one last time and then walked off to the engine room.

I sort of just stared at the floor while leaning against the wall. I don't think I could ever tell him that I still had feelings for Cassie. Cassie loved the Phantom. But, just because she had feelings for the Phantom doesn't mean that would change our friendship. I was still and always going to be there for her, no matter the situation. I started to remember that day when Cassie almost left my life...

* * *

><p>The other rangers and I were in the Cirrus Dimension. Elgar had kicked me into a rock and I saw Rygog pouring that stone powder on her.<p>

"_Cassie, no..._," I shouted for her, but it did no good.

"_Cassie!_," I called for her as two Pirahnatrons held me from getting to her.

The process was complete and she was turned to stone and Elgar, Rygog, and the Pirahnatrons vanished. I fell to the ground and saw Cassie complete to stone and I ran to where she was laying.

"_Cassie, can you hear me? I'm so... sorry._" I said wanting to go into tears. The one true person I cared about was gone.

Then the Phantom showed up.

"_There is only one thing that can bring her back to life. My power ruby._" The Phantom informed us and removed the ruby from his chest and waved it back and forth above Cassie.

"_Look, her color is back,_" I said with relief and happiness. She was back. I was happy and so were the other rangers. I continued to look down at the beautiful face that was Cassie.

She woke up in an instant and gave the Phantom a quick scary glare, grabbed his arm and in a blink of an eye, it was General Havoc.

We all backed up a bit and he vanished with the Phantom.

"_Oh, man, I can't believe we fell for that,_" I exclaimed and look down at the empty bed.

I put my hands down and looked up into the dark sky of the dimension.

"_**Please Cassie, don't disappear from my life**_," I yelled in my mind.

* * *

><p>Just then, Carlos came into the dining area where I stood leaning against the wall.<p>

"Teej, you O.K.? What happened?" he asked.

"Huh," I said coming out my trance. "What, oh yeah, everything is fine, I just needed to speak with Andros for a minute."

"According to the check Ashley and I did, everything on the ship is working properly and the ship is still on a direct course for Yotoba," Carlos informed me.

"Good," I said, "Let's just hope Zordon is really on that planet and we can get him out of there."

I followed Carlos back into the Bridge and took a seat at the front console and monitored the ship's course.

* * *

><p>It was getting awfully late and the others were beginning to doze off. Carlos was asleep on his chair and Ashley had her head down on the console with her arms serving as a pillow and Cassie was just sitting off to the side slightly dozing off. I was beginning to become very tired myself and decided to take a rest on the console myself.<p>

* * *

><p>"Good morning, we're approaching the planet Yotoba," DECA said waking us up. Cassie got up and quickly came back to the console to monitor the ship along with me, and Ashley and Carlos did another ship check.<p>

The door opened behind us.

"You guys...," Ashley said.

We all turned around to see Astronema and Andros both of them holding chain cuffs.

I got up from my seat and walked up to the console in front of me and looked down at all the chains he had, "What's going on?"

"It has to look like she captured us," he said and I made a disapproving face.

"It's just for a minute," he said.

I walked around the console that blocked me and approached Andros and Astronema.

"I just don't think it's a good idea," I said and stared at Andros for a second and then glanced over at Astronema.

I picked up one of the chain cuffs from his hand, "We'll make it look real," giving Andros and Astronema another short glance. I took a position next to Andros fastening my chain cuff around my wrists and the others getting theirs from Carlos who had taken them from Astronema and taking a position where Andros and I stood and fastening their chains and we all stared forward.

Astronema took a position in front of us summoning her staff. Once again, it looked like she had another chance to destroy us. We were in chains and she had her staff. While the chains weren't securely fastened, it would be enough to get in a quick attack, but I waited along with the others to see what would happen.

"Robot," I heard Astronema call for Alpha.

"Please call me Alpha," he responded.

"Open a communication channel," she ordered.

"As you command," Alpha responded and went to do so while grumbling something about her not showing respect to him and showing some courtesy.

I guess he had every right to feel that way. He did have a point, courtesy does go along way. Being nice and asking nicely for things does help in real life.

Then I heard something I never expected.

"Please, Alpha," Astronema said and then I looked at her again.

"Huh", I said in my mind. An evil person saying "please and thank you", that's a first. I guess there is a little courtesy in everyone, no matter how evil.

"Communications open," Alpha informed her.

"Thank you," she responded and Andros stood there with a slight smile and grin.

I lowered my head again to make it seem like I surrendered and so did the others. It's come down to this, we have finally arrived to Yotoba. According to Astronema, Zordon was being held captive here and if she does everything she says she'll do, we should be able to rescue him. But, still... it didn't seem right. I mean, we would be on their turf and most likely, there would be a large number of evil troops there. All we could do is wait.

Then Dark Specter showed up on the viewing screen and we all stood there in silence as prisoners usually are and looking down at the ground. However, I chose to keep my eyes closed.

"Astronema, I've been trying to find you," Dark Specter said.

"I've been busy Dark Specter. I'm coming in with all five rangers," Astronema said.

"Excellent, you've done well. Bring them to me, at once," Dark Specter said in praise to Astronema.

"As you command," Astronema responded.

"I am lowering the force field," Dark Specter said and then the communication channel was broken.

We all felt the slight rumbling of the force field being lowered and we all broke from our chains and headed to our designated positions for commanding the ship.

"Ashley, scanners at high sensitivity. Carlos, bring us ahead, hyper rush one," I said taking my normal position on the Bridge and the others doing the same, excluding Andros. Astronema took a few steps back while the rest of us took action.

"Hyper rush one ready at your command," Carlos informed.

"Coordinates locked in," Ashley said.

"Cassie, shield and fuel status, please," I requested.

"Fuel and shields ready," she responded.

As we readied ourselves to go deep into the planet the alarms went off.

"Velocifighters approaching off the port bow," DECA informed us.

We all turned our views to Astronema.

"They're escorts, you have to follow them," she said.

Carlos made an awed look at Andros and Astronema then turned his view to me. I sort of just stared at the console below me, then the others and thought of what we should do. I wasn't exactly sure, but I guess the only thing we could do was follow Astronema's orders and follow them, but now, I was getting that feeling again that this is not the right thing to do, but there seemed to be no other choice. I looked at Carlos, then Ashley, then Cassie.

"All right... let's follow them," I commanded and looked at Astronema and Andros and the other rangers began basic maneuvers. Andros and Astronema exited the Bridge and the door closed. I held the controls very tightly to maintain control of the ship due to a strange lightning storm.

"The planet's atmosphere is highly unstable," Alpha warned us.

I kept my eyes on the Velocifighters to make sure there weren't any suspicious activities going on among them. This was getting awfully enigmatic and I didn't trust them. They might lead us to Zordon, but what would happen when they did so? Naturally, they would put up a fight, and Dark Specter's presence would only make matters worse.

"I want to know where they're leading us," I said in a low voice to Carlos giving him two glances. We still managed to keep up with the Velocifighters, despite the planet's terrible conditions. It was becoming harder to keep up with them due to the bright lightning that flashed in front of us and the thick clouds that covered the atmosphere, but, yet, I still didn't feel right continuing the pursuit of them.

"I don't like this...," I said to myself. Enough of this, it's time to take some action here. These are evil forces and they aren't going to make it that easy for us. I knew what I had to do.

"Alpha, changing course...", I said to him and made a sharp turn and losing the Velocifighters.

The others lost their balance and shifted a little to the right of their seats almost falling, but maintained a grip.

"We lost the Velocifighters," Carlos said and I responded with a nod to him.

"Bring us down to the planet surface," I commanded. The ship was flying calmly until the ship started shaking and we lost a slight bit of power on the ship.

"Ayi-yi-yi, we've been hit by lightning," Alpha informed us with a slight panic.

Carlos grabbed a flashlight and left the Bridge for reasons I didn't know, but I assumed to try to fix the power problem.

"Keep us level," I commanded and we all did our best to keep the ship under control, but our efforts seemed fruitless. In my mind, I kept my mind on one goal, keeping the ship balanced against this harsh atmosphere, but it did no good. The atmosphere's conditions were too harsh to keep the ship up in the air.

"What's going on," Andros exclaimed running onto the Bridge.

"Just hold on," I warned him, then both Carlos and Andros came to my sides. I did my best to keep the ship in a good position to keep it from taking anymore damage.

"Maximum system failure. All guidance operations are off-line, prepare for crash landing," DECA announced and Andros took his position on the Bridge to take control of the ship.

"Aaaaug", I shouted out as Carlos and I flew over the panel due to the crash landing and landed on the panel in front of us. Upon our landing, we lay still to keep from flying across the ship anymore.

The ship finally made a complete stop and we all gathered ourselves making sure we were all right. We all took a long stare at the planet we were now consumed in. All trees. Astronema wasn't kidding when she said "jungle planet".

"Karone," Andros exclaimed and started to run to the engine room.

I turned around to see Andros exit the Bridge and then looked at the others.

"Come on, let's go," I said and ran to the engine room with the others following.

We all ran through the dark halls of the Megaship until we came up to the engine room. I found Andros knelt down next to the pole where Astronema was restrained and then I saw the cargo door a bit open. I walked to the door and looked outside to hear birds chirping and large amounts of trees and bushes.

"She must have been leading us into a trap," I said still looking out at the jungle.

"Yeah, only we didn't follow her plan," Cassie responded behind me.

Andros was still kneeling down next to the pole, "I don't believe it," he said.

"Then why'd she jump ship," Ashley asked to him.

I turned back around to look at the others, then Andros who looked extremely depressed.

"Carlos, Cassie, Ashley, can you guys go check out the damage report on the ship? We're going to have to make sure the ship is in good condition if we want to leave this planet," I said to them.

"Yeah, we better do that," Carlos responded back. "Come on guys," he, Ashley, and Cassie went back to the Bridge.

I looked at Andros again, who was still in his same position holding the chain cuffs. I walked up to him.

"Look, I know what you're going to say," Andros sort of snapped at me.

I stood there silently.

"You're going to say something like 'I told you this was a trap'," Andros said and was trying to hold back a little anger.

I once again stood still silently for a few seconds and sighed a bit.

"Come on Andros, we've got to go make sure the ship is fine, just in case we get into trouble and we have to leave this planet or form the Astromegazord," I said to him.

He, now, stood there silently.

He nodded, "O.K., let's go," he said.

We both walked through the still dark decks of the Megaship to get to the Bridge.

"How's the ship check out, Carlos," I asked him.

"Well, most of the ship is O.K., no major damage. We can get the ship up in no time," he said.

"Good," I said giving him, Ashley, and Cassie a smile.

Andros just stood there staring blindly at the viewing screen which still had the view of the jungle outside.

* * *

><p>The repairs of the ship didn't take long, no more than 15 minutes and we got everything up and running again.<p>

"O.K., guys, it's time to head out and search for Zordon," I told them. They all glanced at one another and nodded. Andros still showed no emotion a bit, but agreed to it.

"Man, this planet is like a huge nursery," Carlos said.

I was in front moving carefully through the huge leaves blocking our way while the others followed. We had been walking for quite a bit, but we still hadn't found anything. The only thing we seemed to find was more and more plants with the chirping of the birds surrounding us. Just then, I heard something. Sounded... like Pirahnatrons and they were moving very fast. I raised up my hand to signal everyone to sit still for a moment.

"Hide!", I said and we all scattered a bit to our lefts and rights to hide under the heavy leaves and plants. The Pirahnatrons ran past us and we all picked up our heads to see them run off. I stood there looking around the area.

"This place is crawling with Pirahnatrons," Cassie said.

"Maybe Zordon really is here," Carlos said with some assurance.

"Or... maybe they know _we're_ here," I said shooting a short glance at Andros. He looked down a bit and then looked at me with some threatening look as I turned my head in the other direction.

A split second later, some Pirahnatrons popped up in front of us trying to make an advance at us making that weird sound they always make.

"Watch it," Andros warned us. We tried to retreat in the opposite direction, but Darkonda and more Pirahnatrons intercepted us.

"Well, look who we have here, five little rangers who've lost their way, ha," he said in that slight cocky voice he always seems to have.

"Let's Rocket," Andros commanded and we morphed into our designated Ranger colors ready to battle.

However, we were too outnumbered, we were getting our tails kicked. Andros was trying to deal with Darkonda while the rest of us tried to hold back the Pirahnatrons. One Pirahnatron pushed me and flipped me over onto the ground and I looked at Cassie where Pirahnatrons were kicking her from side to side and Carlos being gotten the best of as well by the Pirahnatrons.

Carlos, Cassie, and I were still continuing to try to hold our own while Ashley held Darkonda busy.

"Ashley, what are you doing?", Andros asked.

"Go find Zordon," I heard her say to Andros.

"Right," he said and tried to escape the battle.

However, Darkonda was able to break from Ashley's hold on him and swung his sword at her.

"I don't think so," Darkonda exclaimed and then zapped Andros in the back as he ran.

I saw him from the distance fall to the ground. I signaled Cassie to grab Darkonda and we both held his arms to try to prevent him from doing anything else, but he was too strong for us and broke out and unleashed his sword on us and we fell to the ground.

"What? Go get Astronema and the Red Ranger and bring them to me," Darkonda ordered and most of the Pirahnatrons ran in the direction where he pointed.

"What?," I said in my mind as I lay on the ground exhausted from the battle. What's going on here, first she leaves the ship, and now she's helping Andros. This is getting awfully weird. Is she with us, or with them?

"I'm going after the traitor and that meddlesome Red Ranger, you," he said pointing to the Pirahnatrons, "capture these pathetic rangers and chain them up and head to the meeting area, now," Darkonda ordered and ran off.

The remaining Pirahnatrons grabbed me and the others and chained us up and began escorting us to that meeting place that Darkonda said to go to. We were all struggling against the Pirahnatrons, but it did no good, as long as we were in these chains, there was no way we could escape. Cassie was next to me followed by a Pirahnatron behind her.

"All along, I knew this would happen if we trusted her," I said to Cassie. She looked at me, but even though I couldn't see inside her helmet, I knew she was and then lowered her head forward again. The Pirahnatrons still continued to push us forward. Then Darkonda showed up from behind a huge plant.

"Well done, we've got these rangers right where we want them," he said.

Darkonda walked up to me, "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't destroy you now," he asked.

I lifted up my head to look at Darkonda, "Because... if you destroy me, you'll let Andros escape with Zordon _and_ Karone."

He sort of chuckled in that annoying laugh he always does, "You rangers and Astronema are such fools. We figured that Astronema would find out that no good Red Ranger was her brother and she would try to lead you to Zordon. So, we've had this all planned out for quite some time if we ever needed to check her loyalty to Dark Specter. In fact, Zordon isn't even here, it's really Dark Specter in disguise," he said and did another maniacal laugh.

"What?", I said.

"Oh, no, Andros...," I thought in my mind.

Darkonda led the way and we finally approached the area where we saw a fake Zordon energy tube.

"You won't get away with this Dark Specter," was the first thing I heard Andros say as we approached.

"You're wrong, Red Ranger, you _are_ all fools!" Darkonda said as he approached the stand.

"Darkonda," I heard Andros exclaim.

"Seize him," Darkonda ordered and Andros was in captivity as we were. I could see Andros struggling against the Pirahnatron and he was looking at Astronema.

"Karone, how could you?", he asked as if really didn't know.

"Karone, tell us all, how could you do such a thing," Dark Specter asked.

I could tell them why, because she is an evil perpetrator. She couldn't be good if her own life was on the line. I can't believe she would do this to us and above all, Andros, her own brother. She would destroy us and him, just to maintain evil queen status. If we ever get out of this, she will pay for this. I swear.

She just looked down at the ground for a bit. She could save us if she wanted to, but we knew she wouldn't do it.

"It was my pleasure," I heard her say to Andros and began to walk up to the stand.

"Karone, no.." I heard Andros beg, but she didn't care. In her mind, this is exactly what she wanted. She didn't care about anyone anymore, not even her own brother. _Only_ her loyalty to Dark Specter.

The other rangers and I were still struggling against the Pirahnatrons that held us captive and chained.

"You're an evil liar," Cassie shouted to her and Astronema directed half of her view to us.

"I knew we shouldn't have trusted you," I yelled to her still struggling with my chains.

"Karone, you're my sister, help me," Andros exclaimed to Astronema.

Darkonda walked up to Astronema pointing his sword a bit, "You may think you're clever, Astronema...," he said with another chuckle, "but we know full well that you are trying to help the Power Rangers to save Zordon."

Astronema wasted no time unleashing that evil power and strength she had. She knocked his sword up with her staff and knocked him to the ground and charged down on him with her staff next to his head.

"It seems that I fooled you, as easily as I fooled them," she said.

Yeah, if I weren't held like this, I'd show her the one who is fooled.

"Perhaps, I've misjudged," Darkonda responded and Astronema raised herself back up.

I kept my eye on her the whole time. Like I always thought, I knew she couldn't be trusted. She was definitely holding the pole and we took the bait, hook line and sinker.

"My trap worked perfectly," she said to Dark Specter.

"Yes, but you are not done yet. You must destroy them now and be done with them forever," Dark Specter said as he rose from the tube and vanished into thin air.

I raised my head to see him disappear. I couldn't believe this was the end of the line. All of our searching and endless toil to stop evil and save Zordon has come down to this, being destroyed by Astronema. I just looked down for a moment then at Cassie, Carlos, and Ashley next to me, then at Andros on the other side who knew I was looking at him, even though we couldn't see through the helmets. Astronema walked up to Andros with that evil smile she always seems to have on her face.

"Karone, you're my own flesh and blood. I trusted you," Andros said like an innocent child still struggling against the numerous Pirahnatrons.

"Darkonda?" she called.

"What is it, my Queen?" he responded.

"Destroy them," she ordered.

I quickly raised my head to see Darkonda in a soldier position ready to fulfill his order. I looked over at Andros who was struggling and pulling more against the fish fiends.

"What? Karone, no, you don't know what you're doing. You've got to come to your senses," Andros exclaimed to her.

Darkonda turned in our directions with that silly smile on his face, "Which one of you shall I destroy first?", he said in a rhetorical way.

I looked at him with complete awe and then he set his eyes on Ashley. "No," I said in my mind. It can't end like this, we've come to far to let it just go out like this. Darkonda raised his sword about to destroy Ashley, but something happened. Darkonda was zapped in the back and we all lowered our heads and smoke formed around us.

He turned around groaning and looking at Astronema who held her staff pointed at him. Darkonda dropped his sword and fell to the ground in agony.

What in the world, I asked myself. What's going on here? Could she really be on our side?

"Karone?" Andros asked in suspicion.

Astronema pulled her boomerang from the side of her leg, "Duck," she commanded and flung it in our direction. We did as she said and it hit the Pirahnatrons and we were free from their grasp. Unfortunately, we were still chained. The boomerang returned to her and she placed it back on the side of her leg.

Andros broke free from the Pirahnatrons as well and began kicking and punching them. We manage to keep the ones that suffered Astronema's boomerang blow down to prevent them from getting us again.

"This way, quickly," Astronema commanded and we all followed her.

"All right, hold your arms up," she ordered and she released us from the chains.

"So, you _are_ on our side, after all?" I asked her in astonishment.

She responded with a wink and a smile. I smiled at her, although she couldn't see it as I flung the chains off me. Now, I was truly convinced she was on our side. If she was really on their side, that would have truly been the end of us. Although she was helping us now, things still did not look good for us. We were completely surrounded by a school of Pirahnatrons with hammers and staffs ready to attack us at will.

We didn't notice, but Darkonda had gathered himself.

"You traitor!", he yelled and raised his sword high in the air, but again, he was zapped and this time he fell to the ground and was completely destroyed.

"Aaugh," we yelled in the presence of the explosion and covered our faces.

We all raised our heads back up.

"Get out of my way, you tin monkeys," a familiar voice said to the right of us. It was Ecliptor who had saved us, and he walked in all imbalanced ready to fall to the ground in pain.

"Ecliptor," Astronema called for him and ran to him as we followed behind.

Astronema talked to Ecliptor while we kept the Pirahnatrons away from them and thanking him for saving her and Ecliptor ordered her to get out of the area, but she refused to leave him.

"Get her out of here," Ecliptor commanded us.

"Ecliptor," Astronema yelled for her lifelong protector as Andros led her in a retreat for the Megaship.

Carlos lead the retreat with Cassie behind and me running behind her.

"Come on, Ashley," I said and she ran past me.

Andros and Astronema were still running behind me.

"Right up there, hurry," I heard Andros tell Astronema and he turned around to shoot his astroblaster at the Pirahnatrons to keep them back.

However, that did no good, more of them came from the side and began to attack us. Astronema was being held by one and I kicked it to let it release her. The other rangers and myself were able to take most of them down so we could reach the Megaship. Carlos, Ashley, and Cassie were the first ones inside followed by Astronema, Andros, and myself. The hoard was still coming at us, but Astronema stopped them with a huge lightning bolt from her staff which caused numbers of them to flip up in the air and fall to the ground.

Very impressive, I said to myself. The girl's got spark. I like that.

I sort of grinned at my thought and prepared to close the cargo doors. Astronema and Andros quickly ran inside.

"DECA, get us out of here," I commanded and input the password to shut the cargo doors.

I quickly ran to catch up with the others as the doors shut themselves.

"Lift off," DECA announced and the ship began its liftoff from the planet.

* * *

><p>"Wow, what a wild, somewhat strange voyage that was," Ashley said.<p>

"Yeah, tell me about it. We were that close to being destroyed," Carlos said showing how close we were to being destroyed with a hand gesture.

"I guess the important thing is that Astronema came through for Andros, that's all that matters," Cassie said.

I wasn't really involved in the conversation. I was too involved in my thoughts while checking the console. It had been a while and we all fell silent. The others just stared at each other and exchanging slight glances.

I always thought that evil villains could never change. I always thought they had nothing, but destruction, revenge, chaos, and suffering on their minds. Astronema, although those things are part of her life, she was different. Then, it hit me. The thing about Astronema is she is human. There is one main difference between these two kinds of evils. One is capable of changing. If Astronema was not human, we would have been destroyed, but she has the will to change herself and she did back there, and she saved us, and her brother.

The elevator door opened, and there stood Andros, and Astronema leaning against the wall.

"Hey guys," Andros said with a tiny smile and Astronema following behind him. I watched them both enter the Bridge.

"Well," I said in my mind, "it's time for me to do what I should've done when we entered the ship."

I lifted myself from the console and approached Astronema and Andros.

I looked at Astronema, "I owe you an apology. I'm sorry," I said to her and she raised her head to look at me.

"No," Ashley said putting her hand on my shoulder, _we_ all owe you one."

"Look..., I don't expect you to like me. I mean, I've never... I've _never_ had a friend. I didn't deserve one," Astronema said with a slight sadness.

I glanced at Ashley who was still standing at my side with a look of slight regret.

"I only hope that one day, you'll believe that I don't want to hurt you," Astronema said with a bit of sadness.

I looked at Ashley for a second then back at Astronema. In my mind, I was truly regretful for the way I treated and looked at her. It was wrong of me to do so.

"I believe you," Cassie said.

"Yeah, me too," Carlos backed her up.

Astronema looked at both of them with a normal "unsure how to react" look.

"Maybe not one day, but right now," Cassie continued.

"If you ask us, you've got five friends," I said to her with a smile and assurance that she _really_ had friends.

"And hey, you deserve every single one of them," Ashley said grabbing her hand in a friendship type way.

Astronema looked at Andros with a smile who returned one back at her.

"Astronema..., no, Karone, just remember, we will always be here for you. You showed true leadership and courageous qualities down there. You saved us at a time when it really mattered," I told her and she smiled at me.

The others gathered around her giving her a hug and showing her what true friends are.

"Andros, can I talk to you for a minute?" I asked him. I walked a little to the side and Andros followed.

"What's up," he asked me.

"Look, I especially want to apologize to you. I don't know, I just think I let my instincts cloud my better judgment and my thoughts of how you felt about the whole thing," I said to him.

"T.J, don't worry about it. I understand completely. I probably would have done the same thing if I were you. It's just that evil is so complicated and confusing. You really don't know what you're up against or know what they're thinking until it truly shows in the end," Andros replied.

"Come on, how about we have a celebration. We can program something cool with the Simudeck," Andros suggested.

"Sounds good," I replied and Andros began to walk away a little.

However, he didn't walk far before he turned around to look at me again.

"Oh yeah, T.J, I can see the person who chose you to lead the Power Rangers back on Earth made a wise decision. You are, definitely, worthy of such a title," Andros said.

I replied with a smile.

"Thanks Andros," I said to him.

**The End**


End file.
